The Boston Agunah Taskforce
Members of the Boston Agunah Taskforce: (L-R) Layah Kranz Lipsker, Shanna T. Giora-Gorfajn, Lisa Fishbayn Joffe, and Rabbi Aryeh (Robert) Klapper
Part of the HBI Project on Gender, Culture, Religion and the Law, the Boston Agunah Taskforce is devoted to research, education and advocacy for fairness in the Jewish divorce process. We believe that withholding a Jewish divorce is a form of domestic abuse. Women sometimes wait years for a solution, and are often referred to as “agunot,” women ‘chained’ to marriages that are no longer viable. Get refusal is not just an Orthodox issue. It can affect every segment of our Jewish community. People need a Get to remarry in a Conservative synagogue in the U.S., in the state of Israel and in more Orthodox oriented Jewish communities around the world.
The Boston Agunah Taskforce currently serves more than 200 women every year through our online hotline and our in-person services. In addition, our website, getyourget.com, generates traffic from women around the world seeking information on Get abuse, providing educational resources to women we don’t directly service. Since January 2020, the Boston Agunah Taskforce has responded to hundreds of questions and assisted in the delivery of 90 Jewish divorces.
The Boston Agunah Taskforce is grateful for the continued support of The Miriam Fund of CJP - Combined Jewish Philanthropies.
Learn more about the Boston Agunah Taskforce.